ReseaRch Quality assuRance foR the futuRe a ... - Lund University

Panel 7 – ECONOMICS AND MANAGEMENT (LUSEM)
only five awarded in the social sciences and humanities). The Unit’s
teaching function is limited, though many staff members teach in their
‘home’ departments. As noted in the self-evaluation, because many staff
members have joint appointments, data on personnel as well as output are
unreliable.
3.2 Research infrastructure
In 2006 CIRCLE absorbed a research unit from the University’s Faculty
of Engineering. In 2007 it re-located to a building shared with two other
Units, one of which is the Research Policy Institute (RPI). Worthy of
note are the Innovation Database for Economic Research (CIDER),
maintained by the Unit, and its excellent and easily navigated website.
On the website the Unit’s Electronic Working Papers can be found and
downloaded.
3.3 Research
Ouality. Research is published in a range of journals covering the
economics of innovation, research policy, environmental and regional
studies, energy policy etc. With impact factors largely between 1.00 and
2.00 these are significant journals in the social sciences. To a considerable
extent, work produced by CIRCLE is of high quality.
Productivity. The multiple affiliations of many staff members make it
difficult to assess the Unit’s productivity. Form 1.3 lists an output of 33
scientific publications in 2004, rising to 86 in 2007, or 261 in total. (For
comparison, CIRCLE’s list of publications includes 510 items. Excluding
conference presentations and unpublished reports (that are also listed)
yields approximately 110 articles in peer-reviewed journals and 120 books
and book chapters.) Relating the 2007 output to personnel structure
reported in Form 1.1 (earlier figures are not given) yields 14.3 publications
per staff member (17.2 per full time equivalent). Whilst this figure
is undoubtedly an artifact reflecting the difficulties of counting here, it is
clear that the Unit is highly productive.
Relevance. The focus of the Unit’s work, its funding, the large number of
keynote lectures given by senior staff, as well as memberships in advisory
committees etc. all attest to both the scholarly and the societal relevance
of CIRCLE’s work.
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